The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Assembly/Shipping aids are common for sprung lip or PTFE radial shaft seals. These aids are typically one-piece and are retained by the seal's inside diameter sealing element because it has sufficient radial force to retain the aid. To improve fuel efficiency in automobiles, new seal designs have been developed to provide shaft sealing with a sealing element having a reduced radial load (e.g., “Energy Saving Seal” or “ESS”). If an assembly/shipping aid were required on an Energy Saving Seal, the low radial load provided by the ID sealing element would be insufficient to retain the assembly/shipping aid. For this reason, a new method of attachment to this type of seal is required. The attachment method is further complicated if the seal is shipped from the seal manufacturer, assembled into a subassembly, and then delivered to the final customer.